Gravity Fx Fitness

Recently I’ve seen women on the internet wearing shirts that read “Strong is the New Skinny”, meaning that having strength is desirable.

I couldn’t agree more.  Besides making most of life’s tasks easier, working your muscles with resistance training gives you an appealing shape, as well.

A highschool friend recently celebrated a mid – 40’s birthday by running a half marathon.  Doing basic strength exercises helped her overcome some nagging injuries and increased her running efficiency.  She stopped in to see me briefly a while back and I showed her some simple but effective exercises.

A client recently took up jogging again as a supplement to our strength training sessions.  Several years ago she dislocated her kneecap and had been cautious when doing any type of exercise for fear of re-injuring her knee.

After taking our time to work the muscles of her leg and hip, making sure she had a good foundation, she now is one of the strongest women I work with, pushing a sled with 200 pounds of weights no problem.  The overall strength she has built also comes in handy while working as a nurses’ aide, frequently being asked to help move large patients.

Another client in her 50’s was recently moving some furniture at her parents’ apartment with one of her brothers.  They were going to move a chair when he said something about being careful of his sore back so she just picked up the chair herself and put it where she wanted.

I think you get the picture, that building lean muscle tissue is a good thing, if for no other reason than to make your daily activities that much easier…and since lean muscle tissue is important for your metabolism, that’s another important reason to do resistance training.

Some women always say that they don’t want to get too big or bulky but I just haven’t seen that myself.  In fact, most women get smaller with a proper program.  It takes a lot of effort to build muscle and most people aren’t willing to do the work.  If it was so easy to get big, athletes wouldn’t resort to taking illegal substances.

Not long ago I started working with a woman in her early 50’s who had been taking exercise classes elsewhere and not received the results she wanted.  I had her do a basic exercise for the upper back with 15 pounds and she thought it was too much weight, saying they had been using 8-10 pounds in the other class.  I replied that was one of the reasons she ended up at my door.

If you want lean muscle tissue you have to challenge the muscles with some effort.  If you also want to insure proper bone density you better use enough resistance to stimulate that, as well.  Most women are so much stronger than they realize.  I have a 68 year old woman doing that same exercise with a 20 pound dumbbell.  We didn’t start with that much but she has progressed to that point gradually.

You want to think of Progressive Resistance Exercise – gradually giving the body more of a challenge in order for it to adapt, making sure you have built a good foundation.  If you are in a rehab setting than a 3 or 4 pound weight might be what you need but if healthy and you want to force your body to make a change.

A few years ago I saw a special on CNN on aging and they interviewed a 101 year old woman who was still active, independent and exercised regularly, looking more like she was 80.  They showed her lifting what appeared to be 6 or 8 pound dumbbells and she was lifting them with decent form.  So if she wasn’t lifting the pink dumbbells than why should you??!!

Mothers routinely lift their 30, 40 or even 50 pound children so lifting weights should seem pretty natural.  Some women lift fairly heavy barbells or kettlebells and I admire that but you can use dumbbells, sandbags, flex bands, suspension trainers and the weight of your own body as resistance.  The key is to work hard and gradually progress to using more resistance.

If you want to give yourself the best odds of living long, being healthy and feeling youthful and energetic, strength training should be a part of your life.  A leaner, shapelier you is a nice “side effect” of this training.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Want to live long and healthy like Jack LaLanne?

There are no guarantees in life, but your best bet is with regular exercise that includes resistance training! Your muscles are the motors that power all your movements, so you better keep your motors (muscles) tuned up.

I’m currently training a couple that are 81 and 80 years old, respectively, so this gives me a little insight.  Since most of my clients are in their 50’s, they have aging parents that are currently dealing with health issues at this moment.

I’ve known this older couple for about thirteen years and they have been off and on massage clients of mine.  The husband started training with me about 5 months ago and when he first came in I was startled by how physically weak he had become and how poor his balance was.

He and his wife had been long time members of a healthclub, did ballroom dancing and did aerobic exercise in their basement, using a treadmill, elliptical machine and stationary bike.  They’ve both had some health issues the past couple years and had eased off on the strength training.

It’s well known that we tend to lose muscle strength and lean muscle tissue as we age.  It might not be quite as well known that this can be kept to a minimum with proper resistance work.  Muscle strength is important in order to keep your mobility as you get older, as well as keeping your bones strong, reducing the risk of falling and staying independent.

Let’s take Jack LaLanne for example.  While he had definitely not maintained all the strength and muscle mass that he had in his 40’s or 50’s, he did enough work to stay healthy and independent into his mid 90’s, without any long hospital stays or nursing homes.  Maybe there’s a message in that statement – that it takes work to stay healthy, though there are never any guarantees.

Back to my client, after 5 months his leg strength has improved greatly and so has his balance….coincidence?  Unlike most programs for the over 50 crowd, I put my clients in standing positions for the majority of their work, for a very simple reason.

Life’s activities occur mostly while standing so this provides the most carryover to your daily activities.  What are some of the most challenging movements for seniors – getting up from a chair, going up stairs and bending over to pick something up.  Coincidentally, I train all three of these movements with him.

The one exercise that we do lying down is a horizontal leg press.  We have gradually moved him up to 160 pounds with both legs and will probably not go much higher, seeking to maintain this, as the force going through his spine might create some issues.  He works on going up and down the stairs at his house to keep that function working well and we have him do step ups to reinforce that ability.

After listening to a podcast from a top strength coach I got the idea to have him do farmer’s walks, which is just holding some weights in either hand while he walks from one end to another.  This is a simple way to work on grip strength and build functional core strength.  We just started with this and he uses 12 or 15 pound dumbbells in each hand and we encourage him to look straight ahead to reinforce proper posture.

Since most people of this age have some posture issues, we work on rowing movements for the back of the body, with the hope of pulling them back to a more neutral position.  Not sure if this can be totally corrected with everyone of this age but I believe it can definitely be prevented in most people with proper training.

Bottom line, he is working hard to delay the effects of aging and he is definitely walking with much better balance and he is a little more independent, as well.  It takes work to stay youthful.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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This was a question I got recently from a 15 year old who had tagged along for his aunt’s training session. She was training with another 50 something friend and another man in my studio on a Saturday.

He is currently doing typical barbell lifts such as the bench press and squat and didn’t quite understand my training methods, which make use of sandbags, suspension trainers like the TRX, resistance bands, ropes and dumbbells.

I have a barbell tucked in a corner, which I use with some clients as a leverage press, but other than that, no barbell lifts.  At one point he asked her if they bench.  We do some dumbbell bench presses on a flat bench or on a stability ball, but my preference is some kind of pushup variation or presses using a flex band, in a standing position, which trains core stability.

Many people tend to think of barbells and dumbbells when “lifting weights” or some weight machine, like a lat pulldown.  When you realize that the point is to challenge your muscles with some type of resistance, than that resistance can take the form of your own bodyweight, sand, flex bands, or whatever.

He talked about doing weight training and I mentioned using heavy sandbags and how they can feel much heavier than a barbell.  He then picked a 140 pound sandbag off the floor using the parallel handles and found out what I was talking about.

A little later he asked me directly, “do you lift weights?”  Presumably, because I look like I do some resistance training (hopefully).  I told him I used to do all my training with barbells and dumbbells but now stick to what you see in my studio and think the results are about the same, with fewer injuries.

Obviously, if you are training for some type of strength competition that involves lifting weights, you need to train that way, but if you are just training for general fitness, general strength and fat loss, the previously mentioned tools work just fine, at least my clients think so.

When using sandbags, suspension trainers, bands and ropes, there are an almost unlimited number of exercise combinations that can be used.  Besides getting great results, this also prevents boredom from setting in.  Lack of time and boredom are the two biggest excuses people have for not exercising, so this is another reason for these methods.

Here are some of my 50 something clients who have lean, muscular bodies and can do all the physical activities they want with no problems.  They are happy with the results they get and it doesn’t hurt when someone in a store asks them how they got their arms in that kind of shape.

When they tell them about my studio it makes me feel good as well.  Proper nutrition goes a long way, also, but resistance training does a body good no matter what your age or gender you are.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Yesterday my morning group finished off their leg and hip workout by dragging a tire through the alley.  Why might I torture my clients this way?

Because its a great way to challenge their muscles AND it can be fun to do some new exercises.  By “fun” I mean really difficult, so they get good results from their workouts and its fun to train outdoors sometimes.

I’ve pushed a weighted sled before but the tire is a little easier to use for my studio’s particular setting.  I’ve got a normal sized tire and then I add sandbags for extra resistance.  This way, people of different sizes can all do these exercises.

In this video you will see a woman who competes in fitness pageants pulling a large tire.  Notice the nice leg development that she has.  Instead of a harness I have a rope with 10 foot handles attached to the tire.  She is getting really low to the ground, which really gives you a nice leg workout.

I had Deandra, Jenni, and Pete a little higher up and pushing through the heel to hit their glutes, which they all told me they were feeling!  A week ago, I pulled the tire for 20 minutes, working for 30 seconds, resting a minute and repeating.

I definitely felt it in my backside the next day, which was the idea.  The rest of my legs were feeling it, too.  I then finished with 10 minutes of tire rows for a short but highly efficient 30 minute workout.

Also wanted to congratulate Pete and Kim on getting married Saturday.  Pete will be headed to Afghanistan in the near future and I’ve enjoyed having such a hard worker in the studio.  Pete’s had some good results with this type of training.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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One of my clients gave up her jazzercise routine at the first of the year for cardio strength training and hasn’t looked back since.

This fabulously fit 50-something did her previous workout routine for quite some time and it helped her get in pretty good shape…..but her body had gotten used to it and she needed something new to challenge her.  (Vicki in action)

Her sister-in-law had recently started working with me and recommended it to her and her husband.  After the free trial, she decided to give it a try and see how she liked it.  She went from good shape to even better shape.

She has maintained her cardio conditioning and increased her strength at the same time.  All the upper and mid back exercises have reduced some occasional neck problems, giving her increased posture and alignment.

After doing the same exercise routine over and over you need to give your body a new stimulus in order to see improvement.  Besides keeping your body guessing this also keeps your mind fresh, which is also important for avoiding plateaus.

This is why you see so many gym members hit plateaus – you get used to your routine and need a new stimulus.  Recently, a young woman came in to try and make some additional progress.

After doing the elliptical machine 5 days a week, she is in good shape but wants to keep improving.  Your body gets very efficient at doing steady state (pace) aerobics and high intensity intervals will shock the body and increase your metabolism.

Resistance training will help build lean muscle tissue and keep your burning more calories after you have stopped exercising.  It also accentuates a woman’s natural curves while building or maintaining bone mass – a win/win situation!

The increased strength  makes everyday activities much easier.  The time efficient nature of these workouts doesn’t hurt any, either – about 2 hours a week (3 sessions) is all she does with me and then some walking on her own.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Baseball players have started Spring training and one coach has integrated a unique exercise tool into his team’s regimen.

Detroit Tigers head Strength and Conditioning Coach Javair Gillett is using the TRX suspension trainer to prepare his athletes for the grueling 162 game season. Besides the versatility of the exercises you can do, he likes it for training on the road, when they are away from their training facility at Tigers’ Stadium. It fits into a small pouch and is very portable.

It allows you to train different qualities which are vital to sports performance, like balance, strength, flexibility and core stability. He believes it has a strong carryover to athletic movements.

Strengthening the mid and upper back is important for trying to prevent shoulder injuries.  It is an area that needs to be strong for posture reasons, also.

Not just for athletes, Gillett thinks it is a great training tool for everyone. “If you improve your athleticism you’ll improve the quality of your life. The TRX lets you do that, anywhere.”

For more info on the TRX, click here.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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My client Pete, a National Guardsman, does “basic training” for a year long mission in Afghanistan. Sandbags, parachute straps, ropes and bodyweight exercises take the place of weight machines found at the typical healthclub.

One such piece of equipment is the TRX suspension trainer which was developed by a former Navy SEAL to provide an effective workout using your own bodyweight as resistance.  The straps fold up into a small pouch which takes up little space and is easily portable, attaching to any post, tree, or even a Humvee.

Sandbags are usually easy to find on a military base and make a handy form of resistance training.  The particular bags that he uses are known as the Ultimate Sandbag and come with different handle positions built into the bag for doing various exercises.

Soldiers wear body armor and gear that is quite heavy, requiring plenty of core strength in order to carry out their duties in the field.  Pete has had previous hip and back issues in the past, but since taking up this “basic training” routine has noticed a big difference.

Recently he spent the weekend doing drills and had no problems while wearing all his gear.  Previously, Pete had done the typical weight machines at a local gym and knew that something was missing.  His current training regimen has him doing multi joint exercises that target the abs and low back, integrating them with the upper and lower body.

These exercises require several muscles to work together, making it easier to perform work or sport duties by allowing you to function more efficiently.  These simple but rugged workouts take place in my small studio.  Little rest is allowed between exercises in order to burn greater calories overall.

This can also build mental toughness which might help on the battlefield.  Pete is getting married a month prior to his deployment.  He is scheduled to attend officer training after his mission, before heading to physical therapy school.

While these workouts can be tough they can be modified to fit an individual’s needs and strengthen past weak spots or injuries.  A related article that you might find interesting is The Skinny People are Over There.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Yesterday’s Super Bowl victory was a comeback for both the franchise and the city of New Orleans. Not too many years ago Drew Brees was facing his own comeback after a shoulder injury threatened his career.

One of the training tools that made a big impact on his shoulder health and his performance on the field is the TRX suspension trainer.

This piece of equipment can help strengthen your shoulders, upper and mid back, and your core all at the same time.  Even when “isolating” different muscles your low back and abs are working to some degree to provide stability.  This efficiency is one reason that athletes love this tool and its also why it is a great way for the average person to exercise, as well.

If you are looking for home exercise equipment that is inexpensive, portable, versatile and most important, effective, its hard to go wrong with the TRX.  It can be used by most anyone to increase their fitness levels without taking a lot of time.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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from Coach Mike Boyle:

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Saturday I used only sandbags in my workout and burned 641 calories according to my HR monitor. In one exercise I used a slight assist from a TRX, but the workout took 45 minutes and worked every muscle in my body.

The TRX suspension trainers are supposed to be “all core all the time” because your core is activated to some degree in every exercise.  Same thing with sandbags – you’re always working your abs, low back and hips during an exercise.

Cardio strength training (interval training) is a great way to build lean muscle tissue and burn fat at the same time.  For example, my average heart rate for this workout was 78% of my max, with the peak HR reaching 98%  (pretty intense).

So a 45 minute workout at 78% will obviously burn some calories.  By doing more intense interval training you go into oxygen debt, where you are breathing heavily.  Research has shown that this can elevate your metabolism for 24 hours or more AFTER you have stopped exercising!

That’s one of the things I like about sandbags – improved fat burning efficiency while improving your coordination in different movement patterns.  The exercises train multiple muscles to work together at the same time.

I did step ups, overhead presses, high pulls, partial rotation deadlifts and an overhead rotational lift that is often done with a medicine ball.  I kept the rest periods between exercises minimal which keeps your heart rate up and stimulates your fat burning hormones.

One of the reasons you’re metabolism stays elevated after this workout is because of the fast twitch muscles that are worked with the exercises that focus on either strength or power.  More muscles used equals more calories burned but you also have the “afterburn” effect going on as these muscles are being repaired after the workout.

These workouts can take a lot out of you and need to be progressed gradually.  I have my baby boomer clients doing most of these same exercises and it allows them to get in a fast, efficient workout – letting them spend more time with family and friends.

I really could feel it in deep in my abs the next day, particularly from the overhead rotational lift with the sandbag.  I have taught those 15 minute ab workouts before at a healthclub and would never feel it in my abs like I do with the sandbags, or even the TRX.

Here is a video from coach Josh Henkin that shows a few examples of sandbag training.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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